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Re: All Things Scottish
Poster: Scott Silvers/Lord James Beckett of Westmorland <ssilvers@liberty.uc.wlu.edu>
On Sat, 27 Sep 1997, Stephanie M. Thorson wrote:
>
> Poster: "Stephanie M. Thorson" <smt2@st-andrews.ac.uk>
>
>
> FWIW, Wallace's great victory at Stirling was fought on the bridge, not
> out in some field w/o even a streamlet in it. I've been to Stirling.
> I've seen the bridge (yes, still there). It's a beautiful bridge. The
> fact that it was a bridge battle is probably why Wallace won.
>
Okay, just a minor point here, but during the Battle of Stirling, the
bridge was burned, so what you saw was most likely a reconstuction.
Wallace waited until the army had been partially divided by crossing the
bridge and burned it to 1) Wipe out anyone remaining on the bridge, and
2) Prevent the rest of the army from crossing. The fact that it was a
bridge battle is part of the reason Wallace won, probably a major part,
but it was also a marshy site, which bogged down horses and heavily armed
soldiers, and the fact that Wallace burned the bridge kept him from
having to face the full army.
Braveheart is a great movie, one of my favorites. However, about the
only historical accuracy in it is that the major characters existed at
one point in time. Longshanks was King (though he was not on his deathbed),
his son's sexual prefernce was
definitely in question, Wallace was real, Robert the Bruce did eventually
rule Scotland, and the princess was there, but only about 5 years old.
Good movie, terrible reference.
-James
Per pale gules and azure, a griffin segreant between three lozenges Or
___________________ _______________________________________________
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